When is it not cost or labor effective to butcher?

[Aust1227]

Hey there.. Good for you for eating chickens.

I like to skin my small birds. Bleed them.> Cut the feet, wing tips and heads. make a small incision in the breast skin, and tear like hell!! Within 45 seconds you can have a naked bird! Gut it, and throw it in a crock pot.. Three of four silkies could probably go in one crock pot. Pull the meat and save the stock.

By doing it that way, almost any bird is worth the effort. From running around in the yard, to in the pot is less than five minutes per bird.

edited by staff

 

[osbmail]

Most birds are worth effort I alway rent a plucker and figure 2 guys can pluck 50 birds in few hours .Than couple more hours deboneing and few more hours grinding and you got some great ground chicken .Ground chicken is very mulit purpose it does matter what kind of chick it is .For old hens you can pluck ,than cut leg and thigh off ,than cut breast meat off with wing ,and pitch the carcass you waste some meat and soup bones but it is nice not messing with guts.

 

[dudefromtampa]

Hey there.. Good for you for eating chickens.

I like to skin my small birds. Bleed them.> Cut the feet, wing tips and heads. make a small incision in the breast skin, and tear like hell!! Within 45 seconds you can have a naked bird! Gut it, and throw it in a crock pot.. Three of four silkies could probably go in one crock pot. Pull the meat and save the stock.

By doing it that way, almost any bird is worth the effort. From running around in the yard, to in the pot is less than five minutes per

I have never thought to skin the birds. interesting idea. i always thought the skin was the best tasting part of the bird.

 

[dudefromtampa]

Most birds are worth effort I alway rent a plucker and figure 2 guys can pluck 50 birds in few hours .Than couple more hours deboneing and few more hours grinding and you got some great ground chicken .Ground chicken is very mulit purpose it does matter what kind of chick it is .For old hens you can pluck ,than cut leg and thigh off ,than cut breast meat off with wing ,and pitch the carcass you waste some meat and soup bones but it is nice not messing with guts.

Never thought of renting a plucker either. If you rent it - it must be one of those real nice expensive ones. I saw a video on youtube where some dude created an attachment for drills that 'supposedly' expedite the plucking process. My one and only experience plucking chickens was the time my father in law gave me some butchering lessons with the three birds i mentioned at the beginning of this thread. And we did it by hand that time, using a lighter to burn off the prickly part of the feather that was a bear to pull out by hand.

Does that plucker you rent also debone? Once I get this butchering down to where I feel comfortable, I want to learn more about how to ground chicken.

 

[osbmail]

I rent the pluck from some neighbors I think the brand is cconly.It only takes about ten seconds and plucked clean ,some older birds will have pin feather that won't come out.As far as debone goes that is a by hand job .But if you use the no gut method makes it go faster.

 

[pdirt]

Check out this guy's plucking invention...brilliant! Would be good if you're only plucking a small number of birds, I would say 15 or less. Way cheaper than a electric plucker. I looked at the drill-mounted plucker and after seeing this guy's bucket method, I think it would be more practical, at least for my needs:

 

[donrae]

Have you tried advertising them as black meat birds? There are ethnic groups that love silkie meat, not sure if that's the case in your area.

In terms of pounds of meat per hours invested, you're going to come out in the negative this time for sure. But, it's experience for next time. When you have that big Maran's offspring cockerels to butcher next year, you'll be a little more polished and things will flow better.

 

[Bossroo]

Thank you pdirt. Great advice. Fantastic advice actually. Especially in regards to the butchering. I would never had thought to use a .22 on a chicken but that sure beats slitting the throat.

WARNING ! Be very CAREFUL with the use of a .22 or any other bullet to kill any bird or animal prior to processing !!!!!! A .22 bullet will travel up to a mile if it doesn't hit the ground immediately. There is a news story right now from Vancouver, Washington area ( just made national news ...... SENSATIONAL journalism by anti - gun folks ) .... a bullet grazed a woman's head while she was gardening. There is a shooting range about a mile away from their house that has been in constant use for over 20 years. Sheriff officers are now searching for the bullet with metal detectors and lawsuits are in preparations to file with the court. Just KILL THE IDEA of using a .22 or any other gun to kill a chicken and possibly injure or kill a friend or neighbor. You just may also avoid a law suit. Accidents do happen !!!!!!!!!!

 

[blucoondawg]

WARNING !   Be very CAREFUL with the use of a .22 or any other bullet to kill any bird or animal prior to processing !!!!!!   A .22 bullet will travel up to a mile if it doesn't hit the ground immediately.  There is a news story right now from Vancouver, Washington area ( just made national news ......   SENSATIONAL  journalism by anti - gun folks  ) .... a bullet  grazed a woman's head while she was gardening.  There is a shooting range about a mile away from their house that has been in constant use for over 20 years. Sheriff officers are now searching for the bullet with metal detectors and  lawsuits are in preparations to file with the court.      Just KILL THE IDEA of using a .22 or any other gun to kill a chicken and possibly injure or kill a friend or neighbor.  You just may also avoid a law suit.   Accidents do happen  !!!!!!!!!!            

I am sure any who would choose to use a gun would already be gun owners and likely knowledgeable on gun safety. This mindset you promote is exactly what the anti gunners want, guns are dangerous, don't use them, BS.
Sure and accidents can happen with a gun if you are irresponsible, you can also cut yourself with a knife or ax or fall on a knife or ax and end up mortally wounded if not careful.
The only way a 22 is going to fly that far is if someone is being ignorant and firing the gun into the air at an angle to get the maximum trajectory, firing a 22 into the ground or even on a level plane at a target will not result in a bullet traveling this distance, the ballistics of the round and the laws of gravity prevent that.
I wouldn't use a 22 simply because the ammo is to darned expensive, a pellet rifle would be cheaper.

 

[dudefromtampa]

WARNING ! Be very CAREFUL with the use of a .22 or any other bullet to kill any bird or animal prior to processing !!!!!! A .22 bullet will travel up to a mile if it doesn't hit the ground immediately. There is a news story right now from Vancouver, Washington area ( just made national news ...... SENSATIONAL journalism by anti - gun folks ) .... a bullet grazed a woman's head while she was gardening. There is a shooting range about a mile away from their house that has been in constant use for over 20 years. Sheriff officers are now searching for the bullet with metal detectors and lawsuits are in preparations to file with the court. Just KILL THE IDEA of using a .22 or any other gun to kill a chicken and possibly injure or kill a friend or neighbor. You just may also avoid a law suit. Accidents do happen !!!!!!!!!!

I thought a bit about this after this post and contemplated using my air rifle. It's fairly powerful and is advertised as being able to take down anything from a squirrel to a coyote. But came to the conclusion that even this is overkill. I haven't butchered my chickens yet (hope to next weekend-good weather permitting), but when do, I'll be using a sharp knife I bought specific to this reason.

But i don't have any neighbors.